MIRACLES IN A CENTURY OF DOUBT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 24, 12 October 1883, Page 27

MIRACLES IN A CENTURY OF DOUBT.

(Montreal Tru* Witness, August 8.) The age of miracles is 'not yet past, and the supernatural still courts discussion, and that in our very midst and under our very eyes. The freethinkers and other philosophers of unbelief are brought face to face with miraculous events which are notorious, which^ claim universal attention, and are submitted to their senses. These unbelievers may seek to rid themselves of these facts which so stubbornly attest the divine intervention of God, by putting in resolute denials of their existence ; but a denial, no matter how forcible, cannot do away with facts that are palpably manifest, and impossible to gainsay. Some twelve hundred men and women left Ottawa at the^beginning of the week, on a pilgrimage to the famous shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre, where incredulity is frequently disconcerted and overwhelmed, if not convinced, by unmistakable invasions of the supernatural. Those twelve hundred people, -who are as intelligent and in as full enjoyment of their senses as any body of freethinkers, have had the opportunity of witnessing and of bearing testimony to several manifestations of the Divine intervention in favour of three fellow-pilgrims who went to St. Anne de Beaupre helpless and incurable, and who returned cured and whole. The principal case is that of a young woman, who had not walked for three years and four months. She is a native of Ajlmer, near Ottawa, and is twenty-one years of age. Some years ago an injury happened to her knee, which deprived her of the use of the leg and obliged her to go on crutches. She had the service of the Hon. Dr. Church and Drs. Woods and Prevost, but all their medical science was of no avail. The evil became worse, and during the past three years the young woman had to be carried on a litter. Finally, as a last resource, she resolved on paying a visit to the sacred shrine of St. Anne, and made preparations to accompany the Ottawa pilgrimage, which was under the direct supervision of His Lordship Mgr. Duhamel and several prominent members of the clergy. We will allow the favorei pilgrim to tell the story of her miraculous cure in her own simple words, the truth of which is vouched for by the most reliable authorities, and especially by the multitude of pilgrims, and which are recorded in the columns of our contemporary, the Daily Witness, a journal whose contempt for and ridicule of miracles generally will place it beyond suspicion of giving too favourable an account of the case :— " Well, you see," said the cured girl, " I was borne on to the train at Aylmer by four men with a litter. My leg was completely useless, and would swing helplessly from side to side or twist around. When we got to the Church of St. Anne de Beaupre. those of the party worst afflicted were first brought to the altar-railings to receive the Blessed Sacrament. I was carried in and placed the foui th railing from the end. I had scarcely knelt a moment when a strange feeling came over me. It was as if a great weight had been taken suddenly off my heart. I received the sacrament, and remained kneeling, directing my prayers to St. Anne for nearly an hour, when all at once I rose and walked away. I got up as instinctively as if I never had anything the matter ; in fact, when I rose from the railing I forgot that my leg had been bad, and was not fully cognisant till I found myself walking." The second and third miraculous cures took place on board the i Richelieu steamer on the return trip from St. Anne to Montreal, yesterday morning. One was little Miss Bnrns, aged six, of Ottawa: This child was a cripple and never had been able to walk, and was only able to move her legs with difficulty. The Rev. Father Labelle, who accompanied the pilgrims, thus relates the miraculous event : — " As we were coming into por we all joined in singing the Te Deum in the thankfulness for our successful pilgrimage. The little girl, who had evinced a wonderful faith all through the pilgrimage, was leaning on her crutches, when suddenly she walked away, leaving them behind. They are now on the boat. She walked up to the depot to take the train for Ottawa, and she is now thoroughly cured." The third miraculous cure was that of a little boy of about the same age as Miss Burns. "He had never had," says the Witness, " the proper use of his legs ; be was in fact paralyzed." On reaching Montreal Father Labelle told him to offer another and final prayer to St. Anne. " Talk to her," said he, "as if you were talking to your own mother." The clergyman left him alone to his devotions for some momeuts, when the child came to him walking and perfectly cured. He, too, left bis crutches on the boat. These are facts which attest in the most palpable fashion the divine intervention of God, and we hand them over to our local freethinkers and unbelievers for ample digestion and further investigation if they desire it,